Images of migrants on Texas streets in freezing temperatures spark concern

Migrants queue near the border wall after crossing the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves in to US border patrol agents to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, on 14 December. Photograph: José Luis González/Reuters

Images of migrants wrapped in blankets and sleeping on the streets of El Paso in freezing temperatures have raised welfare concerns as they circulated online this week amid a surge of people arriving in the west Texan city.

Over the last few days, thousands of migrants, including many hailing from Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, huddled along the waters of the Rio Grande, while others waded across the river from El Paso’s sister city on the Mexican side of the border, Ciudad Juarez, to cross into the US.